Bloomberg’s Degradation of Journalism

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Often Donald Trump is associated with Silvio Berlusconi, the megalomaniac billionaire who went into Italian politics and spent several stints as prime minister. But the closer antecedent to Berlusconi might be Michael Bloomberg, currently spending tens of millions of dollars in his first week as a presidential candidate. That’s because both Bloomberg and Berlusconi are media moguls.

In Bloomberg’s case, his media empire includes one of the world’s largest news organizations, with 2,700 journalists. And Bloomberg News laid out its guidelines for how it will cover the primary race with its owner in the field. The short answer is that it won’t, which should trouble everyone.

“We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries,” wrote editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in a note to staff. Bloomberg News will have a beat reporter on the Bloomberg campaign, and will disclose their ownership in campaign coverage where necessary. But there will be no investigations of any Democratic candidates, and no outside op-eds on the election. The editorial board of Bloomberg Opinion, whose editorials “reflected [Bloomberg’s] views,” will be suspended.

That effectively takes an enormous journalism operation, at a time when there aren’t all that many around, off the playing field. You could see it as a giant in-kind donation to the entire Democratic Party (investigations of Trump aren’t going to stop), but really for Bloomberg himself. He is deliberately avoiding questions on the debate stage, and running mostly a campaign of unrebutted non-stop television ads (and digital ads managed by a Facebook executive). Now at least one large news organization won’t be reporting critically on him either. That helps Bloomberg, who isn’t subjecting himself to scrutiny elsewhere, much more than the other candidates.

This also damages accountability journalism itself, all because of ownership conflicts. What if by some circumstance Bloomberg becomes president? Would Bloomberg News investigations continue to cease? Alex Shephard is correct: Bloomberg could remedy this by divesting himself of Bloomberg News. His vanity is causing a crisis in journalism and a serious liability within the presidential campaign, reinforcing that the “fake news” has its thumb on the scale for Democrats. This is a self-inflicted, needless wound based on nothing more than billionaire arrogance.

LINKS TO MY STORIES

Tech companies have disclosed that almost none of their customers, employees, or contractor partners uses their forced arbitration process.

United for Respect is fighting for dignity for retail workers this Black Friday.

The ridiculous D.C. invite of the week: Tax Prom, an 82-year-old event that literally sells access to policymakers. 

ALSO AT THE PROSPECT

David Bacon on a dangerous proposed immigration deal in Congress.

Gabrielle Gurley on what African Americans already know about Pete Buttigieg.

Marcia Brown talks to a progressive House primary challenger running on a platform of fighting everyday gun violence.

Jonathan Guyer on the last independent news outlet in Egypt being raided by the government.

Suzanne Gordon on a Trump administration-led effort to further privatize veterans’ health care.

APPEARANCES

I was on Background Briefing with Ian Masters talking about the 2020 primary. Listen here.

I was on Rising with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti talking 2020 primary and Barack Obama. Watch here.

SHARING THE WEALTH

Michael Harriott’s piece on Mayor Pete, race, and education is lacerating. So’s the phone call with Pete afterward. (The Root)

Mayor Pete also used a PAC to pay off his hanger-on aides instead of candidates who were assumed to be getting the money. (HuffPost)

Will Democrats keep funding the Yemen war? (The Intercept)

Trump has stumbled his way into a budget freeze. (Politico)

Lessons from the Bolivian coup. (Current Affairs)

China thinks Trump is an easy mark. (Washington Post)

The billionaires behind Nancy Pelosi’s drug-pricing bill. (Stat News)

Amazon favors its own brands by barring third-party sellers of the products. (Wired)

Every WeWork story is the best WeWork story. (Vanity Fair)

Homeland Security never even tried to track separated migrant children. (Axios)

ICE created a fake university to lure and arrest undocumented students. (Detroit Free Press)

Google fires employees for organizing. (Ars Technica)

A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.

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